Linux drops support for Intel’s 386 processors, but does it really matter?

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If you’re the type of person that not only heavily uses the Linux platform, but also has a bunch of very old processors lying around for everyday use, you’ll be disappointed to know that Linux has just dropped support for Intel’s 386 processors. Say goodbye to that hobby Linux operating system you’ve been building on your twenty-year-old rig.

Linux and the i386 have something of an intertwined history. Intel first released the i386 processor back in 1985, and Linux’s source code was first released back in 1991, after Linus Torvalds developed the operating system on a 386. Eventually, back in 2006, Intel announced that it would finally cease production of the i386 the following year. Linux continued to support the processor years after it died, and has now finally abandoned said support.

Aside from being free and highly customizable, one of the best features of Linux is that it always maintained support for older or lower-end systems, helping to breathe new life into that old Thinkpad sitting at the bottom of your closet. Case in point: The Raspberry Pi, extremely tiny and underpowered by today’s desktop standards, comes stock with a Linux distribution. As for why Torvalds decided to drop i386 support from the Linux kernel, Red Hat employee and Linux hacker Ingo Molnar explained it was a simple matter of the extra work involved in continuing support not outweighing the resulting benefits. He noted that the complexity of supporting the 386 architecture “has plagued us with extra work whenever we wanted to change SMP primitives, for years.”

A little snarky in his explanation, Molnar goes on to say: “Unfortunately there’s a nostalgic cost: your old original 386 DX33 system from early 1991 won’t be able to boot modern Linux kernels anymore. Sniff.” Torvalds followed Molnar’s remark with cold acceptance, stating “I’m not sentimental. Good riddance.”

Torvalds announced the dropped support just two days after Linux 3.7 was released, though no mention of the dropped support appears in the release notes. Along with removing i386 support, Linux 3.7 brings some other major changes and additions. It includes completely new architecture for ARM 64-bit CPUs, as well as the ability to build a single ARM kernel that is portable across different hardware setups.

In the scheme of things, Linux dropping i386 support won’t really affect much other than the staunchest of hobbyists. The act holds more historical weight than it does any kind of practical significance, signaling the end of a relatively long era.

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http://just-john.com just john

Mild bummer, but I’ve still got my arsenal of old distros, if I ever need them.

http://www.facebook.com/digital.razor CJ Wilson

~Well… two things will happen. The currnet LTS or longterm will be able to run linux until the next upgrade ( if users choose to do so.) the other is that some of the DieHard i386ers may end up doing their own updates… Since the slowest proc in my arsenal is a lonely PII-266 from way back when ( no motherboard to speak of. ) I now have a couple good candidates for a “cufflink” or two… And then there is the pack rat in me where I totally agree with “Just John” I have Ubuntu distros going back to 8.10 and Fedora distros going back to 11.. I’m good… This means a leaner kernel for the future for the developers to put more stuff in it.. (Take some you give some away.)

John Cate

Man, this stinks! I was looking forward to compiling 12.10 Quantal Quetzal on my old Compaq Deskpro 386 as soon as I had a month or so of free time on my hands. Linus, you stink!

Xplorer4x4

What’s stopping you? If your compiling, shouldn’t you just be able to use an older kernel? Besides, I wont be surprised to hear of devs unofficially implementing i386 support in future kernels.

SAL_e

Ok, I don’t understand your comment.
First, the article is a bit incorrect. The 3.7 kernel was just
released and it does support i386 as usual. The new patch that
removes i386 support is merged and will be released with 3.8 kernel.
So, any kernel before 3.8 have support for i386.

Now, you
want to compile 12.10 QQ that is based on kernel 3.5. 3.5 has support
for i386. So I don’t understand why you and three other people are
upset about it.

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